Scooby-Doo: The Curse of the Lost Civil War Gold
by nature-lover2003
Summary: For over a hundred and fifty years there was a legend of missing Confederate gold stolen from underneath the noses of everyone. Sixty years after the gold goes missing, a man confesses to seeing the gold get pushed into Lake Michigan. Now, treasure hunters and thieves are after the vast fortune, but a curse wants to keep it hidden forever. (Rated K plus for mild language and peril)
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N: In case you guys don't know (because you haven't read my Scooby-Doo/Teen Titans crossover or haven't been to my profile), "The Curse of Civil War Gold" is one of my favorite shows and "Scooby-Doo" is one of my all time favorite franchises. So with all that combined, this story was born! It also takes a little (and I mean **_**little**_**) inspiration from the DTV "Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers" and "Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster."**

**Nobody start to freak out, but instead of Mystery Incorporated being high school graduates, I'm going to make them in their twenties. I'm doing so because in the United States you have to be 21 or older to drink and anyone who watches "Oak Island" and "Civil War Gold" knows that Marty Lagina owns a vineyard. I really don't need to say anymore. So no one say that they can't be drinking, as long they're 21 at the very least and don't drink too much, they'll be fine. When I say "don't drink too much" I mean alcoholism, just to be clear and nothing like that will happen in this story.)**

**0**~V-o-V~**0**

May 10, 1865 Irwinville, Georgia

It was the evening hours and a large group of wagons and soldiers arrived in a random location to set up camp and rest. They had just crossed a river and made sure to over tip the ferry captain. They still had a long way to go before they reached their final destination: Mexico.

A man and his wife jumped down from one of the wagons. That man was Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America. He, his wife, soldiers, and followers were traveling South with every last piece of the Confederate Treasury, which consisted of mostly gold bars.

Why were they traveling South with fourteen wagons full of gold, silver, and other priceless items? Because this war was not over; not yet. The money was to fund the Knights of the Golden Circle. Together with the members of this secret society, they would take down the Union and make America in the way their Founding Fathers would have wanted it.

"Sir!" a soldier came up to them. "It's far too dark to continue, we will have to set up camp here!"

He nodded, "Alright. Tell your commander that we shall split up the wagons. Six will continue to Mexico." The soldier gave a salute and ran off to find his commanding officer and inform him of what he was told.

Davis' wife, Varina, asks him, "Are you sure splitting up the wagons is a good idea?"

"Absolutely," he said. "If something were to happen, I can be assured that at least some of the money will make it to Mexico."

Half of the soldiers began to set up camp for the night, while the other half were packing up to move out with the seven wagons. Before long, the camp was set up and the wagons were long gone.

A few hours later, while it was still pitch black out, everyone in the camp was awakened by the nearby sounds of galloping horses and gunfire. The soldiers immediately grabbed their rifles and ammunition.

A young Sergeant ran to the Davis' tent to alert them. He opened the tent by moving aside the fabric entrance. "Mr. President!" he shouted in a panic. "The Yankees are here, sir!"

"I know," he said calmly, a little too calmly. The Sergeant saw that he and his wife had already packed up their things, but what confused him was that Mrs. Davis was helping her husband put on a dress. The Sergeant left their tent and rushed back to assist his fellow soldiers against the Yankees.

Davis and his wife left their tent with their belongings in hand, but they soon set them down when they saw that they're chances of escaping unnoticed would be impossible. Varina gave him her black shawl so that he could use it to conceal his face.

They made a rush for the wagons, while stepping over the bodies of the dead and injured soldiers; Confederate and Union alike, some of which were killed in "friendly fire". They didn't get far though, they didn't get two hundred yards away from the tent when someone commanded them to be captured.

One of the major leaders of this ambush, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Pritchard of the 4th Michigan Cavalry, came up to them with his gun in hand. He removed the shawl from Davis' face, almost like groom lifting his bride's veil. He gave a victorious grin, "Jefferson Davis, I presume?"

Davis said nothing and gave him nothing but a look of scorn, but in his eyes was a glare of disappointment and look of cold command directed at his men. Pritchard handed him and and his wife over to a couple of his men, but not before taking a button from the dress he wore as a trophy.

The Union soldiers rounded up all the Confederate soldiers, officers, and other followers, everyone who was captured was chained up. They watched as their tents and the eight remaining wagons were raided.

Pritchard could care less about the Confederates and ordered his men to inform him of anything with any value. Most of what was found in the tents were worth no more than the bricks of the average poor man's farm house, but some soldiers decided to take the worthless items as trophies. The wagons, however, were a completely different story.

A soldier came up to the Lieutenant Colonel, "Sir, we found that six of the eight wagons contain primarily gold bars." Pritchard nodded at this information, it was just as Colonel Minty and Hackley had told him. "What are we to do with the bars, sir?"

The Lieutenant Colonel walked over to the wagons, he then took a handle of goin coins from one of the crates. Then he did something very unexpected; he dropped the coins onto a rock and stomped on them with his boot. After several minutes of stomping on the coins and thus obliterating their origins, he picked them up and gave them to the soldier.

"Gather some men, hide these wagons out of sight and give them these coins as pay," he commanded. He was about to walk away and towards the other men, before he added in almost a threatening voice, "And be sure they take nothing out of those wagons, you hear?"

The soldier nodded frantically, "Y-Yes sir!"

After a few hours of hiding wagons, raiding the tents and rounding up people loyal to the Confederacy, the Union troops were ready to take off. They made certain to either take or to destroy everything they found, which included the tents, horses, and mules.

About twenty miles into their journey back to Virginia, where Davis and his followers would be imprisoned, Pritchard ordered his troops to stop and make camp. When they were finished with setting up camp, his men decided to spend the evening celebrating the capture of Jefferson Davis.

While his men were celebrating, Pritchard grabbed a shovel and axe, then mounted his horse. His horse galloped as fast as it could back down to the capture sight. He wanted to go back to the sight because of some unfinished business he needed to attend to.

He returned to the capture sight late into the evening hours. He got off his horse and walked in the direction of where he saw his men take the wagons with his shovel and axe in one hand and the other hand leading his horse.

It did not take him long to find the wagons, fortunately they did not appear to have any damage to them. He tied his horse to a tree and set his shovel right next to his steed.

He removed the tarps from the wagons and opened the crates with his axe. The soldier had been true to his word, six of the eight wagons contained primarily gold bars, while everything else was no real significance.

Aside from gold bars in these wagons there was also silver coins and bars and jewelry, some of which looked like they could have come from the era of the American Revolution and perhaps even older. With everything he found in these wagons and from what he learned from Minty and Hackley, he really should not have been surprised by the amount of money Davis had in his treasury.

He grabbed the shovel and started to dig shallow holes between two and four feet deep. He estimated the total amount of money he was burying was between half a million and two million dollars. He also destroyed the wagons and burned them to destroy all the evidence, the evidence burned while he worked.

Minty never told him what they were going to do with the Confederate Treasury other than it would make them rich. He never did understand why a wealthy man like Hackley would want Confederate gold.

When the plan was first brought to him, he thought Hackley had to have been a Copperhead and perhaps even a rebel. Not exactly something someone would call a good friend. But he ended up agreeing in the end, after all it was the perfect opportunity to steal all they could and blame it on the Rebels.

After a couple of hours of burying the Confederate Treasury and burning evidence, it was time for him to return to his cavalry. He put out the large fire he created using his tin to pour water from a nearby spring on the flames.

Before leaving he did a search of the area for anything he could have missed. Near where the Davis' tent stood before it was torn down, he found a silver chalice lying on the ground. If this was something Davis and wife owned and possibly drank out of it would definitely be something worth keeping.

He put the chalice and axe in the satchel attached to his horse's saddle. He decided to leave the shovel in case someone in his cavalry questioned him about it. He untied his horse from the tree then mounted it and went back to his men.

* * *

Irwinville, Georgia 1870

Five years after the war ended, Pritchard, whom had been brevetted out of service after achieving the rank of brigadier general, returned to the location where he buried the gold. He knew his shovel would have been found so he made a cross out of a couple tree branches he found to mark the location. He brought with him a few wagons full of empty crates and more than half of his former soldiers from the 4th Michigan Cavalry. All of the former soldiers were dressed in the same uniform they wore when Jefferson Davis was captured. To some it was an odd thing to do, but to others it was to relive the day they helped to bring an end to the Rebels.

He and his men dug up the rebel treasure using both shovels and their bare hands. Every piece that was found was put into the empty crates and nailed shut. He wasn't very worried about the possibility of leaving any coins or jewels behind since they were in an area controlled by the former Confederacy and the state of Georgia is where multiple battles took place.

He lead his former troops back to his home in Allegan, Michigan. Approximately two weeks and one thousand miles later, they arrived at the Pritchard household.

He ordered half of the men to bring it down into his basement, while the other half stood guard both in front of and behind the house. A couple of his men dug a six foot deep void in the dirt section of his basement.

The money would stay in his basement for only a short while, at least until the construction of his new bank was completed. Afterwards, he would keep Hackley's share of the money in the bank vault until a secret railroad along the coastline of Lake Michigan had been completed.

The Michigan Lake Shore Railroad was the only way to get Hackley's share of the money to Muskegon in secret. He doubted that anyone would ever suspect that they conspired to steal from the Confederacy and had some highly illegal plans for it. The two men were highly respected and no one would ever think they were up to anything like what they had in mind.

After many weeks of digging and laying bricks over the area of the floor where the void was, it was time to pay his accomplices. Just like he had done five years earlier, he obliterated the origins of the coins by crushing them. He gave the crushed coins to his former troops and made them swear to never tell anyone about what was going on in the basement of the respected Civil War veteran.

* * *

Frankfort, Michigan 1921

An elderly man lay in bed, he was fading in and out of consciousness; he was dying, he could feel it. He could feel death approaching him.

Next to him, sitting in a chair by his bedside, was the pastor of a local church. The man, whom was a former lighthouse keeper turned banker, was able to stay away long enough to see his friends and family standing in the room.

The pastor takes this opportunity to ask him, "Do you have anything you want to confess?"

The man looked at him, then looked at his loved ones, then looked back at him. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, "Yes, I do." He then proceeded to tell everyone something he had been keeping to himself for the past three decades. "Thirty years ago, when I was working as a keeper for a lighthouse, I saw someone push a boxcar off a cargo ship into the lake."

"Lake Michigan?" someone asked, just to be specific.

"Yes," he said.

"Do you know what was inside?" the pastor asked again.

He took in another deep breath, "I heard from someone boarding the ship that it was full of gold. He said that the gold was stolen from Jefferson Davis after he was captured." He closed his eyes and took in his final breath. He could rest peacefully knowing that a secret kept for so long was finally let off his chest.

Although the man's family members would want to respect the fact that he kept this secret for so long and not tell anyone, that doesn't mean that any of the late man's associates would have the same amount of respect. One of the man's former co-workers from the bank he worked at found this story to be very interesting.

* * *

March 2019, Lake Michigan - off the coast of Frankfort

Two men were on a boat just a little less than five miles out on the lake. They were two of the only people out on the lake because of all the precipitation and cold weather that often occurred that time of year. Spring was around the corner which meant that more people would be going out onto the lake.

Why were they out on the lake at all? Simple. They wanted to take all the fabled Confederate gold at the bottom of the lake for themselves. They hadn't found any yet, but they blamed that on the constantly shifting lake bed.

This trip would be very difficult since their boat didn't have any type of sonar equipment nor did they have any metal detecting equipment except for one metal detector and it was cold and dark out. But they wanted all that gold and they wanted it right at that second.

One of the men laughed as he tossed gold painted bricks in the water, "That idiot-stick Dykstra will never tell the difference."

"Well, those pro divers couldn't tell the difference," the other said.

"Yeah, if we can fool world famous divers, we can do anything!" his friend laughed.

They finished throwing all the fake gold bars overboard and one started to change into a dry suit. The other man helped him put it on then began to put one on himself.

His friend looked at him questionably, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Like hell you're going down there without me," he said.

"One person needs to stay on the boat," the other man said as if it were obvious.

"No way, I'm going down there to get the gold with you, in case you try to bolt," he said.

He eventually complied with his friend coming along and they dived into the cold water. They made their way down to the bottom of the lake with the metal detector and a large flashlight.

They were immediately starting to regret this decision, the lake bed was murky and visibility was near zero. They weren't getting any hits on the detector and their time to resurface was almost up. Now they understood why Kevin Dykstra and his team chickened out when the weather was against them.

Just their time underwater was about to come to an end, the detector got a hit. "I got a hit!" one of them said.

"Great," the other said, "if only we could see it." He glanced at how much time they had left. "We better resurface, we're almost out of oxygen."

"Yeah, but if we don't get this gold bar, Dykstra will get!" his friend argued.

The other dragged his hand down his face, "Fine."

They tried to move the sand from their hit, but it just made the area murkier. The flashlight was of little to no help by that point. One of them thought he saw a rectangular shaped object and was about to reach for it when they heard a hiss-like growl.

"Did you hear that?!" the man holding the flashlight cried.

"Yeah, I did," the other said, scared.

The growl was heard again, but it sounded like it was right in front of them. The man with the flashlight shined it right in front of them and they saw something they had never seen before. Before them was a massive snake creature! It was dark in color and it's lime green, slit-pupil eyes seemed to glow.

"It's the Lake Serpent!" one of them shouted.

They swam up as fast as they could to the surface, not caring if they could get decompression sickness or any other serious medical condition. They climbed onto their boat and tried to make a quick dash for shore, but they couldn't because they were anchored.

The Lake Serpent arose out of the water and growled at them again. By that time, they were convinced that it would either sink them or eat them alive or both! But it did something completely unexpected; it dived back down into the lake, making the already harsh waves even harsher, then rammed the end portion of its tail into the boat. The two men screamed as they went from being out in the lake to being crashed into the marina.

The dark clouds in the sky rumbled and lightning flashed as rain fell over the entire area. A man stood atop a knoll above where the marina stood. He was bald and had a long white beard. He was dressed in a very expensive tuxedo that appeared to be from the late eighteen nineties to the early nineteen hundreds. The two men recognized him because of how important he was to the area. He was Charles Hackley. The supposed ringleader of the stolen gold conspiracy.

"Stay away from the gold! If you are smart, you will do as you are told! Or suffer from the curse of the lake!" he warned them in a threatening and very ghostly voice.

He disappeared in a flash of lightning. As soon as he was gone, the Lake Serpent emerged from the choppy waters. With hissing growl, it unhinged it's jaw, revealing a long row of razor sharp white teeth, and brought its head down as the men let out blood-curdling screams.

**0**~V-o-V~**0**

**(A/N: Hope you like this so far. I know this chapter didn't have Mystery Inc. in it, but I didn't expect the backstory of the legendary gold to be this long. I apologize if I got anything historically inaccurate and don't even think about calling this story in general to be historically inaccurate. I'm a history buff and I'm also a big researcher on many legends and conspiracies.**

**The Lake Serpent those men had an encounter with takes heavy inspiration from many known sea monsters and even the 'Lake Ness' monster, which supposedly lives in Lake Michigan. Not much is known about this monster since there have only been blurry videos, pictures of a dark creature underwater near boats, and eyewitnesses. I'm a believer in the supernatural, but I'm 50/50 on whether or not it actually exists.**

**Whether or not you believe in any of this, you have to admit that it's all very intriguing. Let me know what you think about how this is going so far. And please, please leave at least one review, they make me feel like I'm not a failure at anything. I'm very eager to get writing the next chapter.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N: Mystery Inc. will appear in this chapter and so will Marty Lagina, his son Alex, Kevin Dykstra and his team. If you paid no attention to the author's note in the first chapter, the gang (sans Scooby, of course) is in their early-twenties. I'm pointing this out because they will be doing some light drinking in the next chapter (just a heads up) and there will be one or two alcohol references in this chapter.**

**If it's hard for you to imagine what the gang would look like in their twenties, just imagine how they looked in the old movies. The movies done in traditional animation, not flash animation.)**

**V**~**X**-U-**X**~**V**

June 1, 2019 Allegan, Michigan

It was the late-morning hours and there were heavy rains. Along with the rainfall was a thick, fog-like mist. With these potentially dangerous meteorological dilemmas, most people choose to stay off the road, that is except for the Scooby Gang in the Mystery Machine.

Inside the van, Fred was at the wheel driving at the directions of the van's new Global Positioning System, this one was much more reliable and didn't make a bunch of snide remarks like the old one did. Meanwhile, the others were all doing their own things. Daphne was reading the latest issue of "TV Gab", Velma was on her laptop doing some research on the 4th Michigan Cavalry, since some of its soldiers used to live in the area, and Shaggy and Scooby were playing a duo-player game on Shaggy's brightly colored iPad.

Daphne looked up from her magazine and saw how murky it was outside. "Uh, Fred, I think we should stop until the rain starts to lighten up."

Fred chuckled in agreement, "I think you're right, Daphne. I can't see anything past fifty feet in this weather."

"According to my laptop, there's a museum on the local history near here," Velma suggested.

Shaggy and Scooby looked at their friends, then at each other, then back at them, "Like, as long as it's not a haunted museum, count us in!"

"How far is the museum from here?" Fred asked.

"I don't know," Velma replied, then added rather pointedly, "I've never been to Michigan."

Daphne giggled, "Good point, Vel."

Shaggy and Scooby looked over the back of the front seat, their game was on-hold because they lost too many times. "Like, can't you put the address into the GPS with your phone?" Shaggy questioned.

"Nice memory, Shag," Fred told him. "Daph, can you hand my phone over to Velma?"

She handed his phone to her and she put in the address. The route to the museum appeared on the positioning system's screen. According to the system, they were just under three miles from their destination.

They arrived at their destination in just over five minutes, they pulled into the parking lot and grabbed umbrellas. Shaggy decided to open his umbrella before going outside and it poked Scooby in the eye.

"Rouch!" He put a paw on his now watery eye.

"Whoops! Like, sorry Scoob," his best friend apologize and patted him on the head.

"Rhat's rokay," he assured and wiped away the rest of the tears.

They jumped out of the van and joined the others at the museum door. Despite their umbrellas, they were all getting soaked.

Fred knocked on the door and called out, "Hello? Anyone here?"

After several minutes of knocking on the door, a man, presumably the museum curator, opened it. "Oh, hello, what can I do for you kids?" he asked.

"May we come inside and wait out the storm?" Fred asked.

"Sure," he agreed and opened the door all the way for them, "please, come in."

"Can we get a tour of the museum?" Velma asked when they all got in.

"Sure," he said and grabbed a box of white rubber gloves. "Please put gloves on if you want to touch anything."

They all put gloves on their hands and Shaggy helped Scooby put them on his paws. They then started the tour, starting in a room full of objects used by some of the soldiers during the war.

Everyone, especially Velma, was in absolute awe of the number artifacts held in the living room-sized space. There were guns, bullets - unused, fired, recovered from fallen soldiers, and even minni balls, horseshoes - worn out and intact, saddles, cutlery, pots, boots, pins, medals, belt buckles, blades of all kinds, swords that were often worn by commanding officers to show their superior rank, and even full uniforms. The gang took pictures with their phones, while Scooby pretended to be a soldier by pretending to fire a pistol.

"Careful, Scooby," Velma told him, "everything here is irreplaceable."

He laughed and handed the old gun to her. She just couldn't help but to be so intrigued by the condition it was in, it almost looked brand new, like it had never been used in battle or even shot.

"Did you have this gun restored?" she asked the curator.

"Only the barrel," he replied, "it was in terrible shape when it was given to me."

"Do you know who owned it or where and when it was used in battle?" Fred asked, joining in on their conversation.

"It was owned by a soldier of the Army of the Ohio. The person who gave it to me said that it could've been used during the Battle of Shiloh," he explained.

"Jinkies!" Velma gasped, "That battle is infamous for being the first major battle to take place in the western theater of war!"

"Right you are," he said with a grin.

They spent the next couple of hours looking around the museum, taking pictures, learning about the artifacts, and even a little bit of town history. They learned that Benjamin D. Pritchard, the man who captured Jefferson Davis, lived in the area before and after the war and that his house is still standing and in very good shape for its old age.

Daphne looked out the window and saw that it had stopped raining, "Looks like the sky's clearing up."

Shaggy checked the time on his phone, "Zoinks! Like, it's past lunch time!"

Scooby went into an overdramatic panic, "No runch?!" He let out a fake hunger moan and sucked in his stomach, trying to convince the others that he hadn't eaten anything in a while.

Daphne knelt down and patted him, "Don't worry, Scooby, I'm sure there's a place nearby where we can get a bite."

Fred put a hand on his stomach, "I think could go for a bite, too."

Velma laughed and agreed with him, "I agree with you, I'm pretty hungry, too."

"There's a restaurant just a mile or so up the road," the curator said. Scooby immediately brightened up and licked his lips.

He and Fred shook hands, "Well, thanks for everything."

The gang walked out the door and he waved goodbye to them, "Come back anytime!"

* * *

Muskegon County, Michigan

Inside his workshop, Kevin Dykstra, along with his younger brother Al, and friends and fellow team members Brad Richards, a history teacher at a local high school, and researchers, Frederick Monroe and Jeff Zehr, were getting ready to have a video conference with Marty Lagina and his son Alex. They originally planned to have a face-to-face meeting, but a sudden storm changed those plans.

He clicked on the phone icon on his laptop screen and Marty and Alex appeared. "Hey, guys!" Marty gave a slight wave to them.

"Hey Marty, Alex, how have you been?" Kevin asked.

"Good, good," Alex replied. "How have you guys been?"

"Uh, good, but we'd be better if we were back in the lake searching for gold," he joked, then added, "especially since we have the permits."

"Yeah, looks like Mother Nature is against you," Marty gave a joke his own, receiving laughs from everyone, including his son.

He shrugged with a grin, "Yeah, well."

"So, Kevin, what's the reason for you wanting to have a meeting?" he asked, getting on topic.

Kevin looked through some of the papers on his table. "A gentleman recently mailed us this telegram that dates back to the 1880s that he said was sent to his great-grandfather from Charles Hackley," he explained.

The father and son treasure hunters raised eyebrows and Marty nodded while uttering, "Wow."

"What's even more interesting is that this man's great-grandfather lived in Utah in the area where Hackley is rumored to have had his gold mines," Jeff added.

"So-" he tried to ask something, but their internet connection was breaking up.

"Oh, no. Marty, Alex, can you hear us?" Kevin questioned.

He started messing around with the laptop when the signal began to glitch. He immediately took out his phone and called Marty's cell phone when the screen went completely black.

He put his phone on speaker and asked, "Marty, Alex, can you hear us?"

After several seconds of suspenseful silence, they finally got a response from them, "Yeah, we can hear you." That got a lot of relieved sighs and smiles from everyone in the room.

"With the laptop crashing, I think it would be best if we continued this meeting at your vineyard in Traverse City," he suggested.

"Alright then, give us a call when you want to come up," Alex replied, before he and his father hung up.

* * *

Allegan, Michigan

The gang drove down the road to the restaurant the curator told them about. Fred parked the van and they all got out, to no one's surprise Shaggy and Scooby were the first ones out.

The five of them walked in and asked for a table. The hostess gave them a polite smile and lead them to a table near the back next to a window with a view of the lake.

They all sat down and she handed them their menus. "Your server will be right with you," she said then walked away.

Daphne set her menu down and looked out the window. "Jeepers, what a beautiful view of the lake."

Everyone looked over at the lake view and saw what she was talking about. The midday sun beamed through the semi-cloudy sky and seemed to sparkle over the water.

"You're right, Daph. That's a real nice view of the lake," Fred agreed.

"Maybe we could go down to one of the many beaches later on," Velma suggested.

Both Shaggy and Scooby seemed to be in to that idea. "Like, good thing I remembered my swim trunks."

"Reah, good thing."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," an unfamiliar voice said.

They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man in his sixties wearing a trench coat and holding a notepad. He looked like he was some kind of reporter and appeared to have not had any sleep in a long time, judging from the dark circles around his eyes and all the coffee spilled on the table.

"Why's that, sir?" Fred asked.

"Something very _supernatural_ has been goin' on in the lake's waters," he told them.

"Supernatural?!" Shaggy and Scooby repeated in unison, then they hid underneath the table, receiving a few odd looks from the other customers and some employees.

"That's odd," Velma voiced her thoughts. "Lake Michigan isn't known for supposedly having unusual occurrences, it's most well known for water sports, beaches, and events."

The two chickens poked their heads out from under the table. "Well, now it can be known for being home to ghosts, monsters, zombies, and everything else scary!" Shaggy shrieked and Scooby whimpered.

"Oh, don't you worry none. There's no such thing as sea monsters, ghosts, zombies, aliens, or witches," a woman's voice with a slight southern accent said with a scoff.

She wearing an all black uniform similar to what the hostess was wearing. She appeared to be in her forties or fifties and her hair was brown with graying streaks.

"Ol' Ronnie is a paranoid goose. Ever since that idiot said something about gold in the lake. Sorry, I'm Peggy, I'll be your server," she introduced herself.

Shaggy and Scooby popped out of their hiding spot and began to look through their menus. "Like, we'll have one of everything."

"Fine, don't listen to me!" Ronnie growled, stood up from his table and left, not leaving a tip or even bothering to clean a little of his mess. "Don't say I didn't warn you." His warning made the gang feel uneasy, especially their residential scaredy cats.

"Oh, now don't you listen to him. You kids look like you've been hearing things like that for a long time," Peggy said.

"Like, how could you tell?" Shaggy asked shakily, while he and his best friend were shaking so much you think that there was an earthquake happening and covered their heads with their menus.

She took a card out of her pocket and set it on the table. "A friend of mine up in northern Michigan says that there's a vineyard in Traverse City where you can get a tour of the place and drink some real nice wine. I'm assuming that y'all are twenty-one and older."

Fred looked at the card and looked up the address on his phone. "Says here that it's right by the lake and that they offer tours of the property, where people can get an in depth knowledge of the wine-making process." He found some pictures of the place and showed them to the rest of the gang.

"Jeepers, what beautiful views and that place has a real unique atmosphere."

"That's a large property, it has to be easily thirty thousand square feet!"

"As long as they've got good food, count us in! Right, Scoob?"

"Right, Shaggy!"

Peggy had other tables to attend and decided to get back on topic. "Are you going to order?"

Shaggy held up a finger and whispered to her, "Like, I think they're going to need a minute or two."

* * *

Muskegon, Michigan

After finishing their meals, the gang got right back on the road. They entered the address to the vineyard into the GPS and were headed in that direction.

Heading to a place to relax a little was easier said than done. Thanks to the weather there was a lot of traffic and they had to take a few detours. They weren't even halfway there yet and seemed to be at a complete stand-still. Someone way ahead of them got into an accident and it blocked most of the road.

After roughly an hour of being sitting ducks in the road, they finally cleared a lane for cars to go through. Cars went only one at a time and had to go slower than a snail's pace.

Some cars were at a complete stop to look at the accident. Those who did stop saw the cops trying to calm down the driver of the wrecked car. The driver was shouting at the top of his lungs, but it didn't appear to be out of anger or pain, but possibly paranoia.

He was covered with blood and had to be restrained by the officers. It looked like he was trying to tell them something, but they didn't seem to believe him and appeared to be conducting a field sobriety test on him. Aside from his shouting, the man didn't appear to be intoxicated or under the influence.

Scooby, who was resting his head against the van wall, thought he heard the man shout, "It was the ghost! I saw a ghost!"

**V**~**X**-U-**X**~**V**

**(A/N: So, what do you guys think? I really don't know why I ask this since nobody cares enough to reply. **:(

**I've never been to Michigan, so I don't know too much about it. I know that they do get a lot of bad weather and a lot of Union soldiers used to live there. I've also never been to a vineyard, so I don't know what visitors do there aside from drinking wine.**

**The worlds of the Scooby Gang and Kevin and his team will collide in the next chapter. I know there weren't any ghosts or monsters in this chapter, but they will appear very shortly.**

**In case you guys don't know, I recently wrote a "Hellboy" story. My story is called "Cadal" and it's pretty much the resurrection of Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala and Nuada trying to (sort of) redeem himself. I'm only one chapter into it, but I will get started on chapter two soon.)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N: Before we get started, I want to personally thank iamacliche for the great review. I honestly thought that most people would just ignore this story and just bombard me with a bunch of criticism saying that I'm wasting my time and that I should just give up. So just knowing that at least one or two people believe in me is enough to keep going and I know they'll have my back if my fears of stupid people basically acting like the people described in the song "Lifestyles of the Rich And Famous" decide to bad mouth me. Even if no one stands up for me, I can always just tell them to "Shut up!"**

**So, yeah, unlike what happened with "Dark Secrets" I already have a plan for the haters. I hope they like rock music! **;)

**Anyway, sorry about that, like I said in the last chapter, the cast of "Civil War Gold" and the Scooby Gang will be colliding in this chapter. I hope you're as stoked as I am!)**

0-X~**O**~**O**~**O**~X-0

Beulah, Michigan

Thanks to the weather, traffic jams, and Shaggy and Scooby's ravenous appetites, by the time they were out of the traffic it was already well after eleven o'clock. The van's wheels and wheel wells were completely covered in numerous layers of both dried and fresh mud.

Fred glanced at the gas meter just they got to the downtown area of the small town they were driving through. "Oh, swell," he commented, "we're low on gas."

Shaggy looked outside the window, fearing that they were driving through yet another ghost town, and laughed in relief when he saw some people walk into the stores they were driving by. "Like, for once we're not driving through some spooky forest or ghost town!"

"Reah," Scooby agreed.

Velma looked at a map of the area on her phone, "Looks like there are some hotels just up ahead."

"Maybe we can stay in one of them for tonight," Daphne suggested.

Fred grinned, "That's what I was just thinking."

He drove the van to the closest hotel, just a half mile from the downtown area. Everybody got out with their luggage in hand and walked inside before they got soaked.

Shaggy rang the bell at the clerk's desk, "Like, hello? Anybody here?"

A dark-skinned woman walked behind the desk from around a corner. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Can you get us a room for the night?" Daphne asked.

Sbe typed something into her computer and put two envelopes on the desk. She grinned and said, "You're in luck, we have two vacant rooms for you."

Fred opened the two envelopes and looked at the room numbers on both key cards. Their rooms were 315 and 317.

"The third floor, right?" he asked. She nodded with a smile. "Thanks a lot, miss."

"Have a good night," she said.

They walked over to an elevator on the opposite side of the room and pressed the button. A thin man with dark hair in his thirties stepped out into the lobby when the metal doors opened. The gang could see that he had tattoo sleeves running all the way up his arms and one on his neck, a red and black feather with orange and white fiery markings, that looked brand new and still in the healing process. He didn't acknowledge them or even the clerk as he walked out the door.

"Zoinks, what a creepy looking guy," Shaggy commented.

"Reah, reepy," Scooby agreed.

Fred yawned, "You can worry about him later, right now I think we can all agree to some shut-eye." Nobody could really argue with him, because it was true. They all walked in and he pressed the button for the third floor.

Shaggy laughed and cracked a little joke as the doors closed, "Like, going up!" The others groaned, but Scooby laughed.

Unbeknownst to all of them, the man from just a minute earlier was staring at them through the window. It had started to rain again, though it was much lighter than the rainfall earlier that day by comparison. Despite that, he didn't go back inside and even lit a cigarette and rested his forearm on the cold glass.

A 'ding!' sound could be heard when they hit their desired floor. They walked out and went to their rooms. The guys went to their room and the girls went to theirs, right across from them.

Fred yawned again, "Well, goodnight girls."

"Goodnight guys," Daphne replied with a slight yawn of her own.

The five of them turned in for the night, and this was one of the rare times where Shaggy and Scooby didn't eat anything before bed and went right to sleep. Though this could have been due to them wanting to build up their appetites for their tour the next day.

* * *

June 2 Muskegon County, Michigan - 6:30 AM

Kevin, his brother Al, and team members Brad, Frederick, and Jeff were at his workshop gathering together all the evidence of the fabled gold they had uncovered or had been given to them. They had to make sure it was safely and securely packed since they would be taking most of it with them on their trip up to Traverse City.

Kevin was inside placing the last of some of the documents they had uncovered a little while ago inside a manila folder, while the others were outside packing the vehicles. They would be traveling in two cars instead of one because of all the stuff they were taking with them. He was just about to head out when his phone rang.

He took it out of his pocket, it was Marty. "Hey, Marty, what's up?" he asked.

_"Not much," _he replied. _"You fellas are coming up today, right?"_

"Yeah, we're going to be leaving here in a few minutes. Is there something wrong?" he asked.

_"No, nothing's wrong," _he assured. _"I just wanted to double check with you because I forgot to write it down."_

"Alright," he replied with a laugh.

_"Drive safe, there was quite the storm not too far away from you guys are. So there's probably going to be a lot of traffic and road blocks," _he informed him.

"Thanks for the warning, we'll be up there as soon as we can," he told him.

_"Alright," _he responded. _"Well, see you guys soon, bye."_

"Bye," he replied before he hung up.

He put his phone back in his pocket and grabbed his jacket and the folder with the documents on his way out the door. He went over to his truck and opened the back door to put the folder inside on the seat.

"Kev, are we ready to go yet?" Al asked.

"Yeah," he replied, then asked his brother, "do we have everything?"

"Yep, we just finished loading the other car up," he answered.

"Great, we better hit the road here shortly, according to Marty, there's going to be a lot of traffic," he informed him.

"Not to mention that there's always the chance for more rain," Frederick added half-heartedly from where he stood, on the other side of Kevin's truck, and pointed up at the grey sky to prove his point.

"Good point, Fred," Jeff agreed in the same half-hearted manner as his friend and fellow teammate.

"Alright, so let's make sure we have everything and get going," Kevin closed the door and tapped it with his palm.

* * *

Beulah, Michigan - 8:30 AM

The guys woke up about a quarter to eight and spent the next fifty-five minutes getting ready for their visit to the vineyard the waitress from the other day recommended. They wanted to look presentable since it wasn't everyday that they got to go to a non-haunted place. Frankly, Shaggy and Scooby couldn't remember the last time they had gone more than a day without some supernatural occurrence scaring them half to death!

Fred checked his phone when he heard it make a 'ding!' sound, "Daphne says that she and Velma are going to meet us in the lobby."

"Like, that's perfectly fine with us," replied Shaggy. "Right, Scoob?"

"Right, Rhaggy," Scooby agreed.

"Are we ready to go down to the lobby?" Fred asked.

"Not yet, I still need to put on my shoes," Shaggy replied. He sat down on the bed he and his best friend shared the night before and put them on. "Like, now I'm ready."

The three of them left their room and headed straight for the elevator. It opened almost as soon as they pressed the button. They walked in and hit the button for the main floor, before the doors could close all the way, the man from the night before ran in. He just looked at them blankly then leaned up against the adjacent corner to the elevator panel. He took his phone out of his pocket and started to play with it in silence.

Although he wasn't really paying any attention to them, both Shaggy and Scooby were still terrified of him nonetheless. Especially now that they could see his tattoos much more clearly, one of them was a rupturing human heart with rusty chains wrapped tightly around it. Another was dragon skeleton with the membrane of its wings in relatively good shape, with the exception of a few holes.

The entire trip down to the ground floor was filled with silence that was only broken by a familiar 'ding!' sound. He put his phone away and took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket as he walked out.

The three boys walked out, headed in the direction of the breakfast buffet. The girls weren't there yet, so they decided to get some breakfast.

Fred got a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin. Not surprisingly, Shaggy and Scooby each got at least one of everything. They sat down at a table and began to eat.

Just after they got started, Daphne and Velma came up to them. They were dressed in their usual clothes except Daphne was wearing ivory pearl earrings and Velma had on just a little bit of makeup.

"Hey, girls," Fred greeted them after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Morning, guys," Daphne smiled.

"We're just going to get breakfast and come right back," Velma told them.

"Alright," he replied.

They left the table and came back just a couple minutes later with full plates. Daphne got a couple fried eggs, two pieces of bacon, a half-sliced piece of toast and a mimosa. Velma got a croissant, a small bran muffin and a glass of milk.

By nine o'clock everyone was finished with their food and ready to continue their journey to the vineyard up in Traverse City. After stacking their plates on the table for someone to pick up, they went back up to the third floor to pack up their things.

The boys packed relatively fast since they had only taken out a few things and most of those things were just toiletries. The girls also packed quickly, but they took a little longer since they had taken out a fair amount of makeup and a couple pieces of jewelry.

They meet outside the elevator and went down to the ground floor for the last time. They went up to the clerk's desk and handed the key cards to her.

She smiled politely and said, "Thank you, come back any time." Scooby grinned and waved back at her as they walked away.

They walked out the door and into the parking lot, heading straight towards the Mystery Machine. They loaded up the back of the van with their bags and climbed in once everything was inside.

* * *

20 miles away from Traverse City - 9:45 AM

It took them a long time to get out of Beulah because of the traffic, due to it being a bit of a resort town and all the power outages from the storm, and because they had to stop for gas. But they eventually managed to drive out that town and onto the open road.

After more than an hour of doing nothing but wait out painfully slow traffic and watch the landscape fly by while his game on his tablet was locked, Shaggy decided that he had enough of all the silence. He stood over the back of the front seat and started to search through the radio stations.

"What are you doing, Shag?" Fred asked.

"Like, looking for a radio station," he responded. "I'm getting tired of all this silence." He kept station searching until he heard a song he likes.

_"I'm winning, you're losing_

_I'm falling, your agony_

_Lower than lower, before your forgotten memory_

_My heaven, your hell_

_I'm killing, your fantasy_

_More and more, you follow your divorced reality_

_You're trying to take me_

_You're trying to make me_

_This is the only_

_Give me the only thing_

_I'm tired of trying_

_I'm tired of lying_

_The only thing I understand is what I feel_

_Identity, fantasy_

_Heresy, killing me_

_Lower than lower, before this thing to feed_

_Hypocrite, lunatic_

_Fanatic, heretic_

_More and more, you follow your divorced reality_

_You're trying to take me_

_You're trying to make me_

_This is the only_

_Give me the only thing_

_I'm tired of trying_

_I'm tired of lying_

_The only thing I understand is what I feel_

_Hypocrite, lunatic, fanatic, heretic"_

The song was only three minutes long and by the time it ended, his game was finally unlocked. "Wanna get back to our game, Scoob?" he asked.

"Reah," he replied happily and they went back to playing in the back of the van.

Fred looked at the time on the positioning system's screen, "We should be there by 10:30 at least and eleven o'clock at most."

* * *

25 miles away from Traverse City - 10:00 AM

Kevin, his brother, Al, and Frederick were on route to Mari Vineyards for their meeting with Marty and Alex. Brad and Jeff were tailing closely behind them, both teams made a point to stay close to each other to make sure they arrive at the same time and to assure everyone that all the research and evidence they have with them arrives safely and not in the wrong hands. They made sure to stay in constant contact, even though they have been traveling together since leaving Muskegon.

"How are you guys doing?" Kevin asked Jeff, who was on the other end of the line, which was on speaker.

_"We're okay," _he responded. _"We're still right behind you."_

"Well, we're almost there," he told him.

Al put their current location and their final destination into his phone. "Hey, guys, it's Al. We should be there between 10:40 and eleven."

_"Okay_." Was the only reply he got.

"Fred, how's everything back there?" Kevin asked.

"So far, everything's doing good," he replied. He had his hand flat on the files, briefcases, and other things sitting on the seat next to him. They were using these items to transport all the papers, artifacts, and other pieces of evidence. He kept his hand on it to weigh it all down and make sure that it doesn't go flying if they were to hit a bump or pothole.

"That's good to hear," he commented.

_"Have you called Marty or Alex and told him that we're getting close?" _someone asked, this time it was Brad.

"Not yet, we will when we're a bit closer," he responded.

_"Well, you might want to call them pretty soon 'cause we'll be there before you know it," _he told him pointedly.

"I know," he replied, then continued, pointedly, and slightly melancholy, as well, "but you never know with the weather this time of year. Not to mention that he could be busy with his guests, despite what Mother Nature has been throwing at us."

_"Hey, hey, have some optimism. Nothing's ever stopped us from pursuing this theory of yours before," _Jeff reminded him in an attempt to brighten his spirits.

"Yeah, I just can't get those painted bricks out of my head," he admitted. He was referring to the gold painted bricks the team found the previous year with help from a couple professional divers. "I've just been having nightmares about it ever since."

_"That's understandable, but don't dwell on that," _he told him, then continued a little jokingly, _"especially not now, when we're less than an hour from Traverse City."_

Kevin, Al, and Frederick all chuckled at that. "Yeah, you're right. Good, good point." He looked at the time on his phone, "Speaking of Traverse City, we should be calling them here shortly."

* * *

Traverse City, Michigan - 10:50 AM

It might have taken almost twenty-four hours but they finally made it to their designated city. Now all they had to do was follow the GPS' directions to the vineyard.

"Get ready, gang, we should be there in less than fifteen minutes," Fred told them.

Daphne and Velma were looking at pictures of Mari Vineyards on Velma's laptop and were excited to get there and see what they were seeing in the pictures. The imagines were primarily the entirety of the vineyard, the villa, and the lake.

Shaggy and Scooby were sticking their heads out the windows, they were staring at all the restaurants they were driving by. Every restaurant they passed made waterfalls of saliva run off their tongues and pour out of their mouths.

They arrived at their final destination, Mari Vineyards, just after eleven o'clock. The journey had finally come to an end, now they could fully relax and forget about everything creepy.

Fred parked the van and they all got out, headed for the twin wooden doors they assumed was the way inside. A woman, presumably a hostess, came up to them.

"Excuse me, but you can't be here," she said.

"Why not?" Shaggy asked.

"My boss is going to be having a meeting here soon," she said. "Besides, do you even have a reservation?"

"Yes, it should be under Fred Jones," he told her.

She looked through a list of names on the clipboard she had with her. "Fine," she growled, opening the doors, "come in!"

They walked and were immediately taken in by the gorgeous interior. If the outside was beautiful, the inside was absolutely breathtaking. There were rustic looking chandeliers, wine-tasting areas, couches, a coffee table with numerous candles placed in the center, a glass fireplace, tables, black wooden chairs, a cloaked figure above the fireplace, elegant crosses that flanked the figure on both sides, and many other things made of metal, wood, and stone. It appeared to take a lot of Southern European inspiration, possibly Italian. It was the type of place that would stand out from miles away and was very comforting and inviting.

While the others were intrigued by everything they laid eyes on, Velma was much more interested in the cloaked figure and the crosses that surrounded it. She thought the figure looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The crosses didn't look like something out of Christianity or even one of Christianity's sub-religions. She thought they looked like something out of the Middle East, but she wasn't sure.

"Hello," a male voice greeted. They turned and saw a man behind a counter for wine-tastings. "Welcome to Mari Vineyards, I'm Luke. Can I interest you in some samples?"

"Oh, yes please," Daphne accepted his offer.

He put out four wine glasses and a darkly colored bottle. He uncorked the bottle and poured a ruby red liquid into each glass.

"This is one of our red wines, called Pinot Nero," Luke said.

Each took a glass and inhaled the alcoholic yet fruity aroma of the expensive beverage. They brought the brim of the glasses to their mouths and savored the smooth, berry flavor as it went down their throats.

They were so caught up in the interior of the villa and the wine that they didn't even realize that someone was missing. That someone was Scooby.

It was only after that first sip from the glass that Shaggy noticed his best friend was gone. "Like, hey, where's Scooby?" he asked.

The others put down their wine and started to look around for him, but they couldn't find him anywhere. It was as if he had just vanished.

"I thought he came in with us," Fred spoke.

"Scooby? Scooby-Doo?" Daphne called out.

"Where are you?" Velma called out as well.

"Did you see a dog come in with us?" Fred asked Luke.

"No," he said, "I didn't see a dog."

"Scooby-Doo! Where are you?" Shaggy called out in a manner that was similar to a mother wolf calling out to her pups.

"Excuse me, is this your dog?" an unfamiliar male voice asked.

The four of them turned in the direction of the voice and saw Scooby standing with five men, all in their middle ages. He was on his hind legs and he, along with the men, was carrying a large stack of folders and briefcases.

He carefully placed the stack on one of the tables and ran to his best friend and owner, "Shaggy!" He tackled him to the floor and licked his face, receiving laughs from him, the others in the gang, and the guys who came in with him.

Eventually he was able to ask in between laughs, "Scooby-Doo, where were you?"

He pointed back at the men, "Ri was relping them."

"You were helping them?" he repeated.

"We pulled up right after you did and started to unload our cars. Apparently, we over-packed and your dog saw us struggling with our stuff and helped us carry it inside," one of the men explained, after setting down the large stack he was carrying.

Fred came up to him and extended his hand, "Well, thanks for returning Scooby to us, mister…?"

He smiled and shook his hand, "Kevin. Kevin Dykstra."

0-X~**O**~**O**~**O**~X-0

**(A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much I did writing it. **:) **I apologize if there are any mistakes, I've been sick for a couple weeks now and the symptoms just won't leave me alone! Thank you iamacliche for your help in what they do at Mari Vineyards! **:) **Btw sorry if you guys have been waiting a little long, I've been busy writing a story for FictionPress.**

**The song in the middle of the chapter is "The Only" by Static-X. I don't know if you guys know this, but Wayne Static, the founder of the band (who sadly passed away a few years back), was from Muskegon.**

**I'm sure many of you know this, but the 50th anniversary of the first time "Scooby-Doo" aired was recently. I tried to get this done by the 13th, but I couldn't.**

**For those of you who are curious about the items Velma was so intrigued by, they're actually modeled after important symbols to the Knights Templar. If you watch "The Curse of Oak Island" (which I'm assuming many of you have), then you know how important the Templars are to the show. Speaking of the show, the next season will be coming in November!**

**I don't know if you guys realize this, but we're only 3 chapters into this and there's already 5 suspects to who's behind the Lake Serpent and ghost from chapter 1. Who do you think is likely to be the culprit(s)? Just know to expect the unexpected.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N: One thing I forgot to mention in the previous chapter, with the new season of "The Curse of Oak Island" coming soon it means longer waits and I plan for this story to have a fair amount of chapters (meaning 10 or more). But I'll tell you what, if this story ends up becoming very successful and popular, I **_**might **_**write a sequel to this and it will take place primarily on Oak Island.**

**I know you've probably heard this a million times but I'm not the one who decides this, it's you guys, the readers, who decides if a sequel is a good idea. So far, this story has exceeded my expectations and an "Oak Island" sequel is looking very possible.**

**Before I forget, from this chapter forward in scenes where the "Civil War Gold" team and the Scooby Gang are together, I will refer to Fred as "Freddie" and Frederick Monroe as "Fred". It's for identification purposes and I'll only be doing this if they have scenes together where both have dialogue.**

**Just so you know, there is one cuss word in this that some probably wouldn't call mild. If your sensitive to cuss words, you should probably skip this chapter.)**

o~o~o-**X**-o~o~o

"Nice to meet you," Fred replied politely after his introduction. He then introduced himself and his friends, "I'm Fred Jones, this is Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Shaggy Rogers, and of course you already meet Scooby-Doo."

Scooby laughed when he heard his name and began to chow down on a plate of various cheeses, meat, crackers, and sliced fruit that had been placed on the table just after they arrived. Shaggy gave him a look and put his hands on his hips. He laughed again and presented him the half-eaten plater.

Kevin then introduced his team members, "This is my younger brother, Al, Brad Richards, Jeff Zehr, and Fred Monroe."

Shaggy just couldn't help but crack a joke after the introductions were finished, "Like, hey, we have two Freds now!" Normally, only Scooby would be the only to laugh at his jokes, but this actually got a few chuckles from almost everyone in the room.

Meanwhile, Velma just couldn't help but to ponder on where she had heard those names before. 'I know I've heard of these men before, but where?,' she questioned in her thoughts.

A new voice entered the room and it sounded somewhat irritated, "Jillian, for the last time, we don't keep our doors closed just because I have a meeting."

The hostess, now identified as Jillian, complained like a child at his statement, "But, Mr. Lagina-"

She was cut off by her boss, Marty Lagina, turning his attention to his guests, "Welcome to Mari Vineyards, I'm the founder Marty Lagina."

Velma suddenly brightened up when she heard that name and she remembered where she had heard Kevin's name before. "Jinkies, you're _the _Marty Lagina? The famed Oak Island treasure hunter?" she asked.

Marty chuckled, "Well, "famed" is kind of a strong word."

She then turned back to Kevin and his group, "Now I know where I've heard of you guys, you've been working to trying to prove that a fortune in stolen Confederate gold is at the bottom of Lake Michigan."

Kevin nodded with a grin, "Right you are, Marty here has been helping us by funding our searches of the lake."

"So, like, that's what that hostess meant by her boss having a meeting today," Shaggy voiced his thoughts out loud.

"Yeah and 'that hostess' is telling you to put that mutt outside!" she snapped at him and roughly jabbed him in the chest with her finger.

"Like, chill out, ma'am," he tried to get her to calm down, while rubbing the area on his chest where she repeatedly poked him.

Marty rolled his eyes, "Jillian, the dog can stay."

"B-But, but Mr. Lagina-!" she tried to protest, it was then Velma noticed that she had a slight southern accent.

"No 'buts'!" he stressfully shouted, surprising everyone in the room, especially Kevin and his team, they have known him long enough to know that he rarely shouts at people out of frustration, especially in front of his guests. She finally gave up and went over to her place at the door to greet any new guests that could possibly come in later.

"So, with that done, should we get started with our meeting?" Kevin asked Marty, feeling a tad uncertain.

He looked at him and his team and nodded, then turned his attention to his guests and their dog, then to his other employee, "Luke, would you mind giving them a tour?"

Luke jumped slightly when he heard his name, but agreed, "Oh! Yeah, sure." He came around the counter and stood before the gang, "Now, if you could please follow me and we'll get started on the tour." They all looked at each other and followed him into another room.

"If you fellas could follow me and we'll get started with our meeting," Marty joked slightly, receiving grins and some laughs.

Kevin and Al grabbed what they needed from their massive stacks of evidence, which was only a folder and a briefcase. The five of them followed Marty to the conference room, though they already knew where it was.

Once they were out of the room, that left only one person: Jillian. And she decided to take this time to see exactly what kind of evidence Kevin and his team had.

* * *

Marty, Kevin and his team walked into the conference room and sat down at the table. Marty's son, Alex, was already in the room, waiting for them at the table. He smiled at them as they walked in and sat down.

Al opened the folder and spread out the papers inside out on the table for them to see. Marty immediately eyed the telegram Kevin had mentioned the other day.

He adjusted his glasses and picked it up, "I'm guessing this is the telegram you were talking about."

Kevin grinned, "Yes, it is," he picked up another paper, "and this what it says when the morse code is deciphered."

He showed it to Marty, who leaned forward slightly and removed his glasses. It read:

_"I want all operations in my Utah mine to stop by the end of this month. Rumors are circulating and people are becoming suspicious. I trust you will understand this and that there will be no hard feelings between us nor between you and your men. Make sure nothing is left behind, destroy the entire mine if must._

_Sincerely, _

_Charles H. Hackley"_

Once he was finished reading it, he turned his attention back to Kevin, "Well, Kevin, while this is interesting, I have to ask, why do you believe this telegram is so important?"

"Well, it proves that Hackley did have at least one gold mine out in Utah and that he had ordered this gentleman's great-grandfather to stop all operations so abruptly leads me to believe that he wanted all of it be halted for reasons other than what Hackley tells him," he explained.

Alex decided to give his own theory of Hackley's motives, "Do you think it's possible he heard about the boxcar that got pushed into the lake?"

"Oh, absolutely!" answered Jeff, enthusiastically.

"Alex, I think you need to spend a little more time here and less time with your Uncle Rick!" Marty joked. Receiving laughs from everyone in the room.

"Speaking of your brother, how are things on the island?" Brad asked.

"Pretty good," he replied, nodding his head, "it would be better if we could find the treasure. But that's typical Oak Island for you."

"Alright, with that aside," Kevin started, searching through the briefcase they brought with them into the room, "there's something on the underwater footage from last year and the year before that I wanted to show you." He continued to search then furrowed his eyebrows and frowned, "No."

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned by his facial expression.

"I can't find the thumb drive with all the footage on it," he replied, feeling slightly frustrated.

"Thumb drive?" he questioned, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"I transferred the footage into it in case something happened to my laptop," he explained, "but now I can't find it anywhere."

"It's probably in another briefcase," Frederick told him, before he started to panic.

"I think I can remember picking up a few thumb drives and putting them into a pocket inside of the briefcases," Al told his brother.

"Okay, okay, before everyone starts to panic," Marty started, "how about we just send a couple of us down to the front to find the thumb drive and make sure that everything is there."

"I'll go look," Al volunteered.

"I'll go, too," Alex also volunteered.

Both stood up from their seats and left the room to go search. They both knew that it would be a difficult search considering the amount of stuff Al, his brother, and their team brought with them. But what they didn't know was that it would be much more difficult than first thought.

* * *

Luke lead the gang through the entire building, explaining the wine making and distribution process. At that moment they were in the wine storage room.

He picked up a tube-like object, a device known as a thief, and a manual hand drill. He explained what they were for, "This object is called a thief, we use it to take a small amount of wine from a barrel to see if it's ready to be put into bottles."

He drills into the top of a barrel and uses the thief to take out a small amount of wine. He then puts it into small plastic cups.

He gives the cups to the gang, "Try it."

Shaggy made a face after taking a sip, "Like, either it needs more time or it's been in that barrel too long."

"Yeah, it's a little sour for my taste," Fred agreed, making a face as well.

Daphne disagreed with them, "Well, I think it tastes just like how wine should."

Velma just shrugged, "Everyone's entitled to their opinion."

The four of them threw away their cups as Luke lead them to see something else. He showed them the machine used to get all the liquid out from grapes and turn it into wine.

Shaggy decided to take a picture of the machine and all the barrels. He reached into his pocket for his phone, but couldn't find it. He checked his other pockets, but still nothing.

"Zoinks, I can't find my phone," he told everyone.

"Maybe you left it in the front," Fred guessed.

"Do you mind if I, like, leave and go look for it?" he asked Luke.

"No, go ahead," he replied.

"Like, thanks," he gave a quick wave to them before he took off.

Daphne knelt down to Scooby's height, "Scooby, why don't you go with him and help him look."

"Rokay," he replied and ran after his owner.

* * *

Al and Alex took the stairs down to get to the front area, since it was the quickest way. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the building, Shaggy and Scooby were also on their way to the front area.

Since Alex didn't know the extent of what they brought with them, he decided to ask, "So, Al, how much did you guys bring with you anyway?"

He smiled sheepishly and chuckled, "Oh, man, we packed up so much stuff I lost track."

He grinned and joked, "Sounds like we got our work cut out for us."

Al just shrugged, "Well, ever since the fake gold bar incident last year my brother has been kinda, you know, worried about everything. He wanted to bring pretty much every last piece of evidence we've gathered."

They finally made it down to the front room, but what they saw was beyond what anyone would expect. They now completely understood why Kevin had been so paranoid about taking every last piece of evidence with them.

Every single briefcase and folder they brought with them had been opened and their contents scattered all over the floor. It looked as if a band of thieves or misfits had taken everything out and carelessly tossed them like pieces of trash.

"Holy shit! What the hell happened here?!" Al shouted in disbelief.

Alex frantically exclaimed, "Come on! Let's go back and tell my Dad and the others!"

They quickly ran back up to the conference room to inform everyone. Just as they left the room, Shaggy and Scooby walked in. At first they didn't see the mess, it wasn't until Shaggy was just about to grab his phone that he saw it.

"Holy moly! Look at this, Scoob!" he cried.

Scooby looked at what he was referring to, the items he helped bring in. He gasped at the sight and mess, he had only seen such a mess in his owner's bedroom.

"Come on, Scoob. We gotta go get the gang," he told him.

"Right," he replied. Both ran back to the wine storage room to inform their friends.

Just as they ran off to go get the rest of the gang, Al and Alex had made it back up to the conference room. Everyone in the room jumped slightly when the door suddenly flew open, but they were even more surprised to see that they were completely out of breath, as if they had just ran a marathon and back.

"Alex, Al, what's wrong? What happened?" Marty questioned.

"Someone... opened... cases... evidence... everywhere!" Alex tried to explain in between his gasps for air.

"What?" Kevin asked lowly, shock and disbelief clear on his face.

"Everything... we brought with us was opened... and it's all over the floor," Al explained also in between breaths, although he was much more audible than Alex.

"No…" Kevin trailed off, eyes as wide as saucers. He immediately stood up from the conference table and ran out of the room and downstairs. This was something he definitely needed to see for himself.

Shaggy and Scooby ran back into the wine storage room and were slightly out of breath. The gang and Luke were surprised by their sudden entrance into the room and were wondering what was wrong.

"Like, gang, you need to see this!" Shaggy cried out.

"Shag, Scoob, what happened?" Fred asked.

"Ask questions later, you _really_ need to see this!" he responded. "Come on!" he and Scooby ran back to the front area.

"Come on, girls, let's go see what's up!" he stated.

Everyone, including Luke, ran after them, both concerned and curious by what could have gotten them so worked up. They eventually caught with them and just as they came into the room, Kevin entered, completely out of breath. The Laginas and his team came into the room shortly after.

"What the hell/heck happened here?!" Fred, Kevin, and Marty all shouted questionably. No could give an answer, mainly because most people in the room were trying to wrap their minds around what could have taken place or who could have done it.

Kevin walked over to all the papers and items strewn all over the floor. He fell to his knees and muttered to himself, "Ten years of hard work... all for nothing."

Al and Marty came up to him and placed a hand on each shoulder. He tightly shut his eyes and started to weep at the mess.

His brother knelt down and gave him a side hug, "It's okay, big brother. Everything will be alright."

He wiped away a tear and muttered in response, "I just wish that was true."

o~o~o-**X**-o~o~o

**(A/N: Well, I guess this as good a place as any to stop. I'm sorry if it's too short and if you guys have been waiting too long. I've just been so busy and stressed out to the max!**

**I just want to clarify something, I'm definitely aware that the Knights Templar were Christian warriors. Just because I know doesn't mean that Velma knows, there's no way she can know everything. She even admitted in one episode that "mechanics are not [her] cup of tea." That's proof that she doesn't know everything.**

**Plus, the Templars are a group of warriors that most people wouldn't learn about in school, not even high school. Unless you studied religion in college, you likely wouldn't know unless you watch "Oak Island" a lot. Which I'm assuming is how most people would know of the Templars.**

**For those of you who watch "Oak Island" and "Civil War Gold" a lot, I apologize if the main cast seems out of character. But good news, in less than a week, the next season of "Oak Island" will be premiering!**

**Happy Halloween, everybody!)**


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N: I'm just gonna tell you guys this now instead of at the end. If you have Cartoon Network On Demand and you really like "Scooby-Doo" and "Teen Titans", then I have some great news. They have easily over 80% of every DTV "Scooby Doo" movie and a couple of the old cartoons. That's not all, "Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo" is on right now too!**

**Unfortunately, I have some bad news too, some of the movies are only on until the end of this month (others will be until the end of the year). So hurry it up if you want to watch them! I've already watched almost half of them.**

X**/**X**/**X**/**X**/**X

While Marty and Al tried to calm down Kevin, who was still very distraught, the others decided to help by cleaning up the mess. The only problem was, no one was sure if anything had been stolen or if this was just vandalism.

When Freddie started to look through a stack of random papers he had just picked up off the floor, he saw what appeared to be an underwater photograph of the lakebed. But what he thought was both odd and intriguing was that there appeared to be a gold bar in the corner of the picture.

He decided to ask Jeff, who was the closest near him, picking up papers and other items on the floor, "Hey, Jeff, what's this?"

He stood up and looked at it, "Oh, that's a picture of the bottom of Lake Michigan. This was taken almost two years ago."

"Okay, but what about this gold bar?" he asked, circling his finger around the object in the picture.

He took a moment before explaining, "This," he tapped on the picture, "is what's been keeping us going on this whole... quest to find hundreds, if not thousands of gold bars at the bottom of Lake Michigan."

Velma heard their conversation, "I'm normally a skeptic when it comes to stories about a lost treasure, but even I have to admit that it's an interesting topic."

Kevin also heard their conversation, "Let me see that."

Jeff went over to them and handed it to him, "Here."

He took it and stared down at the gold bar in the picture with both hope and sadness. He started to chuckle a little when the memory of his recklessness suddenly popped into his mind.

Al seemed to know exactly which memory had just come to his brother's mind and let a chuckle too. "Hey, Kev, remember when you were so eager to get back into the water that you accidentally hit the diving ramp on the side of the boat we were on and dislocated your hip."

"Jeepers, that must've hurt," Daphne commented.

"It did, it hurt like hell and it still gives me some problems two years later," he replied, smiling.

Marty chuckled too, "I remember that day too, I was almost panicking when that happened."

"I think we all were," Fred agreed.

"I think we brought some other pictures of the lakebed from last year and the year before with us," Al told him.

It was then that Kevin suddenly realized something, they had brought all underwater imaging data from last year with them. "Has anyone found the sonar data collected last year on the lake?" he asked.

Everyone looked through their individual stacks, but no one could find anything like that. The closest thing to sonar data that was found by Shaggy and Scooby was a picture of the water taken from atop the lighthouse in Frankfort.

"Nope, nothing like that."

"Haven't found anything even close to anything relating to sonar in what I've found."

"No, sorry Kevin, I don't think any of the sonar data has been found yet."

Kevin stood up from the chair he sat in and went over to help them finish the search. There weren't too many items left on the floor anyway.

He gathered together the few items on the floor and searched through every single one of them himself. Nothing. He couldn't find anything.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "That's weird, I could've sworn I took all the evidence and information we have with us."

Marty then suddenly realized something himself, "Hey, does anyone know where Jillian is?"

"You mean that grouchy lady from earlier?" Shaggy questioned. "I thought she, like, took a lunch break or something."

"Reah, runch," Scooby licked his lips.

"Do you think she ran into the vandals and got kidnapped?" Daphne asked.

"Either that or she _is _the vandal," Freddie added.

Marty tried calling her on his phone, but got no answer, "Nothing, she's not picking up."

"Before everyone starts jumping to conclusions," Velma started. She adjusted her glasses and looked directly above the figure she saw earlier, "There's only one way to figure this out."

They all looked in the direction she was and saw what she was referring to. They saw a camera placed directly above the mysterious figure they saw when they first walked in.

"That's Tanit, she's a Punic and Phoenician goddess and the chief deity of Carthage. She was later adopted by different cultures in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East," Marty explained. "It's also believed that she was adopted by the Knights Templar as a protector during wars."

"Well, maybe in this case she can be our guardian angel," Alex commented.

A beckoning shine came from the camera lens, as if it was saying, '_I saw everything. Come to me if you wish to learn the truth._'

Marty got Alex to get the camera down and Velma got her laptop out of the Mystery Machine. She transferred the video feed in the camera to her laptop. Nearly everyone gathered around and watched what had been recorded.

The camera feed revealed that after everyone left the front area, Jillian started to open all the briefcases, folders and boxes Kevin and his team brought. At first, she looked through them one-by-one, then she got a phone call and afterwards started to scatter everything onto the floor. She grabbed some papers and other items, presumably the missing sonar data, and rushed out the door.

"Well, now we know what happened to the sonar data," Freddie deadpanned. Daphne roughly nudged his side, "Hey!"

"But what about the missing thumb drive?" Alex asked.

"Maybe we should replay the footage in case we missed something," Jeff suggested.

Kevin stood close to Velma as she replayed the footage. At one particular scene he exclaimed, "There! Pause this scene and zoom in as much as you can."

She did just that, due to zooming in so much the image was pixelated at first but eventually cleared up. As soon as it did it revealed what was already suspected, Jillian had taken the thumb drive just moments before she left.

Saddened and full of hopelessness, Kevin went back to his chair and slumped in it as he sat. Now, all chances of finding the Confederate gold were in the hands of greedy thieves.

"Oh, this is so sad," Daphne frowned.

"Yeah, real sad," Shaggy agreed.

"Reah, real rad," Scooby repeated, sniffling and using his tail to wipe away a tear.

"It's not your fault," he muttered in reassurance.

"It's mostly our fault, we shouldn't have brought all of our evidence and data with us," Brad stated.

On a hunch, Velma decided to do a little research after his statement. She had a sinking feeling that there was another reason why Jillian needed Kevin's research data.

"So, what now?" Alex asked his father.

"I'll tell you what we can't do," Marty started, "we can't quit."

"I don't know, Marty, with all of our sonar data gone, it just doesn't seem possible for us to continue with this mystery," Kevin replied grimly.

"Do you really think I decided to help you guys by funding you and your research because I knew that this was going to be an easy search?" he asked seriously.

He gave him no answer, so he decided to continue. Perhaps a little encouragement is just what he needs.

"Treasure hunting isn't easy and that's why I enjoy it so much, no matter how many times it may crush and disappoint you. If there's one thing I know is that you can't quit; not now, not ever," he encouraged.

"Marty, you're right, we can't quit, we won't quit until we find this treasure!" he declared enthusiastically.

At that moment Velma exclaimed, "Jinkies!"

"What is it, Velma?" Daphne asked.

"According to my research, there have been many recent attacks on people diving in Lake Michigan," she explained.

Kevin and Marty looked at each other with blank yet slightly worried expressions, then turned their attention back to her. They knew exactly what she had found.

She continued, "All the incidents happened within ten or less miles off the lake coast. All of the victims claimed they were attacked by a serpentine monster. They claimed the monster drove them up to the surface and beached their boats. After the attack, the spirit of Charles Hackley, a very noteable and important figure in Muskegon County, appeared to them and warned them to stay away from alleged Confederate gold at the bottom of the lake."

"Zoinks! First lake monsters, now ghosts?!" Shaggy screeched.

She ignored him and still continued, "Here's something else; I did a little research on the victims and found that most of them have criminal records. Most of them have convictions for theft, robbery, and fraud. Also, here's what's really odd: all of the incidents happened in the areas between Muskegon and Frankfort."

Marty sighed, "I guess we all knew this would happen sooner or later."

"And why's that, Mr. Lagina?" Daphne asked.

"Well, you see, last year just a day or so before we had to put our search of lake on hold until Spring, we sent two professional divers down to explore the lakebed with metal detectors. Soon after they told us they had found gold-colored bricks and we all got excited, thinking that eight years of hard work had finally paid off, but when they used the metal detectors on the objects, there was no hit, they were not gold bars. What they found were bricks painted gold to fool anyone searching down there. Ever since then all hope of finding the actual gold has been fading away," Kevin explained.

The gang was dumbfounded by this revelation yet wondered what this had to do with the monster or the ghost. Though, this wasn't exactly the first time they had a case like this and figured they most likely had something to do with the gold he was talking about. Though, perhaps this particular case would prove to be much more complex than first thought to be.

"Since that day, it feels like you have to look over your shoulder wherever, everywhere you go," Al added.

"Jeepers, that sounds like a very scary way to live your life," Daphne almost sounded a little frightened as she said it.

"Yeah, like, imagine people just staring at you at all sides as you try to enjoy a burger or a pizza or a burger pizza or a pizza burger," Shaggy and Scooby licked their lips at the thought of the possibilities.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Freddie asked.

"I don't know…" Marty trailed off with uncertainty.

"Well, they do seem to have experience when dealing with monsters, ghosts, and other things," Jeff pointed out.

"They might be young but they do seem to have the knowledge of experienced investigators," Fred added.

"And the problems we have going on with the lake is definitely worth investigating," Brad included.

"Plus it would be pretty neat to have mystery solvers on our team," Alex smiled.

"Well, they do say there is strength in numbers," Al told his brother, giving him a pointed look. And with that, the deal was sealed.

"Alright, you have a deal," Kevin agreed and grinned as he and Freddie shook hands once again, just as they did earlier that day.

"Well, gang, it looks like we have another mystery on our hands," he declared to his friends.

"Like, there goes the rest of another of our vacations," Shaggy muttered to Scooby.

"Reah, rhere goes another vacation," Scooby sulked.

The two started bawling their eyes out and hugged each other tightly as they cried in the other's arms. They could never catch a break for more than a couple of days.

How many times had this happened to them, again? Only every single day of their lives.

X**/**X**/**X**/**X**/**X

**(A/N: I know this seems rushed and kind of short, but I'm going to be super busy this week and I just don't have the time to keep writing, even though I really want to continue with this chapter. If I did then the end result would be easily 4,000 words and it wouldn't get published until a week or so into December then the point of the author's note at the beginning is kind of pointless.**

**Speaking of the author's note, that's no joke, if you have Cartoon Network On Demand right now you will see a crap-ton of "Scooby-Doo" and "Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo". Two words: nostalgia overload.**

**Since it's unlikely that I'll be able to update or publish anything later on this week, I just want to say I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Again, I'm sorry for the short chapter and I hope you take advantage of the information I gave you. Once more, Happy Thanksgiving!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**(A/N: Oh, man. I haven't updated this in like seven months! That's a long time and I apologize.**

**This is the chapter where Mystery Inc. and Kevin's team will get started on the investigation as well as the search. I won't say anything more because I'm going to jeopardize the contents of this chapter. That's all I have to say for now.)**

0~**V**-**V**-X-**V**-**V**~0

June 5 Traverse City, Michigan - 12:00 PM

Three days after the deal was made with Marty, Kevin and his team, the gang was on their way back to Mari Vineyards to speak to them again. Shaggy and Scooby weren't happy with the deal, but were tagging along anyway because they wanted to take a look around town for a restaurant or two to eat at.

As soon as they arrived, they got out of the Mystery Machine and went up to the building. They went inside and saw Luke wiping down the counter at his area for the afternoon rush, even though there was no one there yet.

"Marty's upstairs," he told them, pointing at the staircase. "First door on the right."

"Thanks," Freddie replied. He nodded and continued cleaning the counter.

As they made their way to the stairs, Shaggy and Scooby caught sight of a tray sitting on a coffee table. A tray full of food to be specific. They licked their lips in unison.

"You guys go ahead, we'll stay here and keep the snacks- I mean, Luke company," Shaggy told them.

They just left them be and went upstairs. Knowing them they'll probably eat the whole pantry before any real guests arrive, if at all, business seems to be very slow, just like how it was when they were there a couple days ago.

They got to the top of the stairs on the second floor and went to the first door on the right. Freddie knocked on the door and got a "come in" as a reply.

They walked in and saw Marty sitting at his desk. There was a long conference table in the room with several chairs.

He stood up and greeted them, "You made it, welcome to my office."

He and Freddie shook hands, "Thanks for letting us in on this."

"No problem," he replied. He gestured to the conference table, "Have a seat." They did so and he sat down with them.

"Where are Kevin and his team?" Daphne asked.

"Right here," Kevin answered as he and his team came into the room with what they still had. "Sorry we're late."

"You're not," Marty replied.

"Yeah, we just got here," Velma added.

She took out her laptop and started typing on it. In the past three days, she's spent her time investigating who Jillian was talking to during the time before she ransacked the evidence and also who she really was.

"After we left a few days ago, I decided to do some research into Jillian just to see who she is and what I found surprised even me," she spoke.

"What did you find?" Marty asked.

"I discovered that 'Jillian' isn't even her real name. Her real name is Dana O'Brien and she has a long wrap sheet with the Atlanta PD. All of her crimes involve fraud, forgery, and she was a suspect in a bank robbery where a security officer was shot along with the bank president," she explained.

Marty was understandably a little agitated at this new information, "I never found that when I did a background check on her."

"Obviously she has some friends in high places," Brad commented.

"Or a dirty cop," Jeff remarked.

"So, what does this have to do with all of the attacks out on the lake?" Kevin asked.

"At the moment, nothing yet, but there's something interesting I was able to dig up in her phone records," she claimed.

"What's that?" Marty questioned.

"Most of the calls she received in the days and hours before she took your evidence came from a disposable cell phone in Allegan," she proclaimed.

"Weren't we in Allegan a few days ago?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah, that's where we first heard of your vineyard, Mr. Lagina," Daphne told him.

"Now, because they were made on a burner phone, I couldn't pinpoint where they came from exactly," she informed them.

"These people have experience, they're not going to be easy to catch," Al uttered.

"But what could all of this have to do with the ghost or the lake monster?" Freddie questioned.

"I have a hunch, do you have a map of the lake?" she asked Kevin.

"As a matter of fact, I do," he replied as he started digging through a suitcase. He eventually found one and handed it to her, "Here."

"Thank you." She spread it out over the table and used her laptop and her notebook to weigh it down.

She used a sharpie to circle the documented areas of where the supernatural attacks took place. She then wrote down the dates when they happened.

"Do you know what days she had off?" she asked Marty.

"Of course, she had Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends off," he answered.

She looked over the dates and looked at the calendar on her laptop, "If these dates are right, roughly eighty percent of these instances took place on days that she had off."

"That's still circumstantial evidence at best," Marty stated pointedly.

"Right," she agreed, "but if she has some kind of involvement, we should try to figure out what's in this area."

Kevin stood up from his chair and looked over the circled areas, "These are all areas we searched for the stolen gold that we believe is at the bottom of the lake."

His brother got up from his chair as well and looked at it, "Yeah, I remember this area," he tapped on an circled area that was a couple miles into the water, "that's where you dislocated your hip a couple of years ago."

"Ouch," Daphne winced, "that must've hurt."

He nodded with a smile, "It did, I had to go to the hospital."

"So, what are you thinking, Kevin? What's your plan of attack?" Marty asked.

"Well, I definitely want to go back to the lake for another search," he replied.

He nodded, "Of course."

"But I also want to investigate the telegram we received a while ago to see if it's accurate," he added.

"Okay, well, I think that because of everything that's going on out on the lake, you should probably follow up on the telegram and see if it's authentic or a wild goose chase," he told him, mildly joking.

"Why don't we divide and conquer?" Freddie suggested. "One team will follow up on that lead, the other will investigate the lake."

Marty didn't seem comfortable with that, "I don't know, whoever these people are, they're not afraid to use force. I have a feeling they will do whatever it takes to get rid of anyone who gets in the way."

"These people might have a strategic plan, but we have one thing they don't," Kevin started. He opened another suitcase and took out a piece of paper, "We have a permit to search the lake and to recover anything we find."

"That's definitely something that will be a great advantage for us," Velma smiled.

"It's settled then, we'll split up and investigate," Freddie optimistically stated.

"Just be careful, okay? And good luck, you're going to need it," Marty uttered.

* * *

Once the meeting was over, everyone with the exception of Marty left the room and went back downstairs. They saw that the only ones down there were still just Shaggy, Scooby, and Luke, no one else.

Shaggy and Scooby were sitting on the sofa in the lobby playing a game on Shaggy's iPad. Not surprisingly, the food platter was completely clean.

Luke was still behind the counter, the rag he was using earlier was slung over his shoulder. He was looking at his phone.

"Nobody else ever came in?" Freddie asked.

He looked up from his phone, "No, it's been really slow lately. Normally, we get really busy in the afternoon."

"That's weird, do you know why?" Daphne asked.

He shook his head, "No, all I do know is that all of my coworkers seemed to have left. It's just me, Marty, Alex, and a couple of groundskeepers. Wish I knew where everyone was though, it's been really quiet around here."

Shaggy and Scooby didn't seem to notice they were even there because they were too busy with the game. They didn't even bother to look up when their friends tried to get their attention.

Freddie nudged Shaggy's shoulder, "Uh, Shag? Scoob?"

He waved him away and his eyes never moved from the game, "Like, not now Freddie, Scoob and I are in the middle of a game that will decide who gets the last box of Scooby Snacks in the van."

"Tell you what, I'll buy both of each a brand new box of Scooby Snacks if you two agree to stop your game and listen," Velma offered.

They looked up from the game and shared glances with each other. Scooby whispered in his ear and they shook hands.

He rested his arm on the top of the couch, "Make it two boxes each and you've got yourselves a deal."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, alright, two boxes each."

He nodded, "Pleasure doing business. Now, what's going on?"

"We're going to be splitting up into teams and divide and conquer this mystery," Freddie explained.

"Okay, so, like, where's everyone going?" he asked, his voice a little shaky.

"One team is going to stay here and investigate the lake, the other team will follow up on lead out of state," he responded.

"Uh, okay, which one is safer?" he questioned nervously.

"On the lake, we'll be investigating the areas where people were attacked and the out of state team will be looking into a telegram that was sent a little while ago," Velma explained.

He and his best friend looked at each other again and nodded, "Okay, we'll go with the out of state team."

"That means you'll be with Fred, Jeff, and Brad in Utah," Kevin told them.

"Utah?" he repeated. "Like, that's where the best Midwestern barbeque comes from."

Scooby licked his lips, "Rarbeque. Rum, rum."

"Right, Scoob, like, count us in!" he exclaimed.

Freddie shook his head, amused, "Real history lovers."

"That settles it, the rest of us will stay here and check out the lake," Velma declared.

"That sounds like a plan," Fred commented.

"Yep," Al agreed, "I can't wait to finally get to the bottom of this mystery."

His brother smiled, "Me either. I'm ready to finally put this mystery to rest."

Unbeknownst to everyone in that room, there was someone else listening in on their activities. A bug had been implanted in that room in a location where no one would think to look and it could even pick up a whisper from afar.

* * *

Location: Unknown

In a dark room illuminated by only a computer, a figure sat and listened to them as they discussed what their plans were and where they would happen. While they discussed theirs, they were planning theirs.

They listened long enough to hear where the two groups will be going, then took that information and sent it to others. Everything was set in place.

"Tomorrow will be the day that we will eliminate the problem," a woman's voice declared.

The computer was shut off and a door opened, filling the room with a soft yellow light, and closed. Then, a window opened and a breeze blew into the room.

Along with the gentle wind was a person dressed in dark clothes and wearing gloves. They went over to the computer and took out a thumb drive from inside their glove and placed it into the desktop computer. They took the information the woman gathered and downloaded it into the thumb drive.

They kept continuously looking at the door and keeping their hearing sharp as the information was being downloaded. If she comes back, this whole operation will be blown out of the water.

Fortunately, the higher power up there was on their side. The computer was finished transferring the information. They grabbed the thumb drive and quickly left and made it look like they were never there.

As they made their escape, the only thing on their mind was, 'Mission accomplished.'

0~**V**-**V**-X-**V**-**V**~0

**(A/N: I'm sorry if this is kind of short, but it's been a little while since I've written for this story, so I'm probably a little bit rusty. Again, I apologize that I haven't updated this story in a long time.**

**During the time I wasn't writing for this story, I've written and published so many new stories and I really have a feeling that some of them will really get some of you guys hooked. Go ahead and check them out if you want.)**


	7. Chapter 7

**(A/N: I hope you guys are just as ready for this chapter as I am. I know it's been a little while and believe me am I very sorry, but I've been very busy with a lot of stuff lately. I tell you, it can be pretty tiring at times, I'm sure more than a few people can agree with that.**

**I'm hoping to make this chapter a little longer than the last couple of chapters, but we'll see how it turns out. This may be a bit of a challenge for me, but I'm always up for a challenge when it comes to my stories.**

**Just so you guys don't get confused, "Fred" with the Michigan team is Fred Jones and "Fred" with the Utah team is Fred Monroe. I know it can be confusing going from Michigan scenes to Utah scenes, but I get tired writing "Freddie" every time and sometimes it's hard for me to remember.)**

O-I-O-**V**-O-I-O

June 7 Frankfort, Michigan - 12:00 PM (Eastern Time)

Fred, Daphne, and Velma were waiting in the parking lot above the docks for Kevin and Al to arrive. They had been there for several minutes, not that they were complaining, they will arrive when they arrive.

They had already dropped off Shaggy and Scooby for their flight to Utah with the rest of Kevin's team. They were pretty excited to be going and they couldn't stop salivating at the thought of all of the barbecue they could eat upon arrival.

The skies were cloudy yet small openings allowed sunlight to come through and shine down onto the water. The shining water seemed to indicate that it would be a productive day, but who knows what Mother Nature has in store for them.

A silver truck pulled up right next to them and someone got out of it. A familiar friendly voice called out to them as the driver came around the truck bed, "Hey, guys, nice to see you again."

They saw that the driver of the truck was Alex, Marty's son. They weren't sure why he was there, but they were glad he was, they would need all the help they could get while out on the water.

"Hey, Alex, what are you doing here?" Fred asked.

"My Dad told me to join you in case you need any additional help," he answered.

"We're glad you're here, we'll need all the help we can get out there," Daphne gestured to the lake by pointing her thumb towards it.

At the same time, another truck pulled up and Kevin and Al got out of it. Both carried duffle bags with them, most likely items they would need for their investigation of the lake.

Kevin greeted them by raising his hand, "Hey, sorry if we kept you waiting."

"Not worry," Velma reassured him with a smile.

"Yeah, I just got here, too," Alex joked slightly.

He and Kevin shook hands, "So glad you could make it, Alex."

"No problem, it's my pleasure," he replied. He then shook hands with Al.

"Are we ready to get out onto the lake?" Fred asked.

"Always," Al grinned with a slight laugh.

Kevin addressed Fred and the girls and pointed towards the docks, "Just follow us."

"Lead the way," he replied.

Kevin, Al, and Alex led them to a boat tied to the wharf. A man came out from the lower deck to greet them. He wore sunglasses with a jacket over a polo shirt.

He shook hands with Alex when he came up to the ship with the others, "Nice to see you again, Alex."

"You too, John," he smiled. He gestured to Fred and the girls and introduced them, "This is Fred, Daphne, and Velma, they're helping us with our investigation." He turned to them and introduced him to them, "Guys, this is John, he owns the boat."

He nodded at them, "Pleased to meet you."

They got onto the boat and Fred commented, "This is a real nice boat, John."

"Yeah, Marty really hooked us up," Al chuckled.

John stepped off the boat for a moment to untie it from the wharf. He leaped back on and went to the wheel to pilot it to wherever they needed to go.

Kevin took out a piece of paper from his bag and handed to him, "We'll start off in the area we were last."

"Okay," he started to input the coordinates into the navigational system.

Once that was done, he steered his boat out of the marina out into the water. Although they knew from past experience that going back to a location where they had bad luck in the past was a bad idea, it still couldn't hurt to return to the scene of the crime.

* * *

Fillmore, Utah - 10:00 AM (Mountain Time)

Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Jeff, and Brad were on their way to the home of the man who sent Kevin the telegram sent to his great-grandfather. They had only been in Utah for a few hours and all five of them were tired, but they had to investigate this lead to see if it could help them with this case in any way.

They arrived at a home in a neighborhood where the homes were spread some distance apart from each other and got out of their rented car. They went up to the front door and Brad knocked on it. A man in his forties answered the knock.

He smiled politely and shook hands with him, "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Brandon, Kevin said you would be coming."

He nodded, "I'm Brad, thanks for having us."

He stopped shaking his hand and moved aside to let them in, "Please, come in."

They walked into his house and sat in the living room. Brad, Jeff, and Shaggy sat on the couch while Fred sat in a chair and Scooby sat on the floor near Shaggy.

"Now, as you know, you sent us a telegram that had been sent to your great-grandfather and what we want to know is if you could give us some information that could help us in our investigation," Fred explained.

Brandon nodded, "I think I can. I remember my father once telling me about the story of the telegram."

"What did he tell you exactly?" Jeff inquired.

"He told me that my great-grandfather was approached by Charles Hackley himself when he was visiting Muskegon and he said he wanted to hire him for a mining job," he explained.

"Right, right," Brad nodded.

"When he and a bunch of other miners arrived at the mine, they discovered over a dozen crates of gold bars all marked 'US Cavalry' and inside of the crates was a note telling them to melt it down to hide their origins," he told them. "More crates would arrive every few months to keep the operation going. After a shipment was missed, the telegram from Mr. Hackley arrived shortly after and all operations were abandoned almost immediately."

"Do you, like, know where the mine is?" Shaggy asked.

He shook his head, "No, but I do know it's within a six mile radius of Delta, which isn't too far from here."

"Alright, well," Jeff stood up, "thanks for your time."

He stood up and shook his head with a friendly smile, "No problem, it was my pleasure."

They left Brandon's house and went back to their rented car. They all got inside and Brad started the engine.

"So, like, where are we going now?" Shaggy questioned, his hand scratching behind Scooby's ear.

"We're going to the desert," Fred answered.

"But first we'll have to rent ATVs or else we'll be wandering around the desert on foot all day," Brad joked slightly.

* * *

Five miles into Lake Michigan - 12:30 PM (Eastern Time)

John took them to the location the coordinates told him to go and dropped anchor. They were set into place for a look around the area whenever they were ready.

Kevin, Al, and Fred went down below deck to change into their wetsuits in order to dive into the water. The wetsuits were a pain to put on, but at least they would keep them alive while down there.

They went back up to the main deck once they were finished putting them on. They then started to hook up their diving gear.

"It'll have to be a quick dive, guys. I just checked the weather on my phone and it says it's going to rain within the next hour," Daphne informed them.

"Uh oh, that's bad, if these waters get too choppy we're gonna have a serious problem," Al uttered, scratching the back of his neck.

Kevin took out something from the duffle bag he brought. It was a metal detector.

"We'll use this metal detector to scan the lake bed for anything metallic from the Civil War era," he held up the said device.

They put on their breathing equipment and stepped onto the diving deck. One by one, they stepped into the water and slowly descended into the cool waters of the lake.

They went along markers at every ten feet as they made their way down to the lake bed. It was a painfully slow process, but it was for their safety and health.

Soon they were nearly touching the sandy floor of the lake and started to swim around the area. Kevin waved the metal detector around, trying to get a signal on anything that could be down there, so far, nothing.

"Are you getting anything?" his brother asked.

"Negatory," he replied, a little glum and very disappointed.

"I don't know how you'd be able to find anything anyway," Fred remarked, mostly to himself. "It's so murky down here you wouldn't be able to find a thing if you did get a signal."

"You're right about that," Kevin agreed, "I can hardly see anything past the metal detector."

_"I know you guys just got down there, but you might want to resurface within the next ten minutes or so," _Velma advised over the walkie-talkie,_ "I can see storm clouds coming our way from the boat."_

"Thanks, Velma," Al responded. "Did you guys get that?"

"Yeah, I did," his older brother answered.

"Same here," Fred replied, too.

Meanwhile, on the boat, Velma set down the radio she used to contact the three of them. The storm clouds got closer to the boat, making her nervous because she knows how harsh rain and wind can get over water.

Alex was looking over some of the equipment and started to walk away to go below deck for a moment. Then, something caught him in the corner of his eye.

It was something he saw on the sonar scanner. He could see a thin, elongated object near their location... and it was moving towards them. Whatever this was, it was huge and coming at them fast! Faster than anything he had even seen on a sonar.

His eyes went wide and he took the radio Velma used and immediately contacted the others, "Guys, get out of the water! Get out of the water now! Now!"

* * *

The desert outside of Delta, Utah - 11:30 AM (Mountain Time)

They came to a stop once they were a mile into the desert. The five of them got out of the car and unloaded the four ATVs they just rented from the trailer that was rented with them.

Fred took out a map of the area and spread it across the side of the car. He used a marker to mark their search perimeter. "If we're in the right area, the mine shouldn't be too far from our current location."

"We're just west of the area we searched a couple years ago," Brad pointed in the direction he referred to.

"You guys have been in this area before?" Shaggy asked.

"We were just a few miles or so away from here two years ago to try to find evidence of Kevin's theory to convince Marty to fund our research," Jeff explained. "We weren't able to find anything, but Marty still agreed to fund us in the end."

"He sure is a nice guy, huh, Scoob?" he asked his best friend.

"Reah, rery rice," he agreed.

Fred, Brad, and Jeff mounted their ATVs and started them. Shaggy mounted his ATV as well and Scooby jumped onto the seat and sat behind him.

"Like, ready to go, Scooby?" he asked him again.

"Ready, Rhaggy," he replied, placing a helmet on his head in a manner that was almost comedic.

Brad and Jeff took off to search in the north, while Fred went with Shaggy and Scooby to the east. With some luck, perhaps they will find the mine, or perhaps they will run into an imminent danger that will cause them to have less than empty hands at the end of their investigation.

O-I-O-**V**-O-I-O

**(A/N: Again, I apologize that this is kind of short, but I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter. I hope you'll stick around for the next chapter (whenever I'm able to get to it), I won't give any spoilers but I will say that there be some **_**supernatural **_**involvement on both sides.**

**I'm also very sorry that I haven't updated in quite a while. I've been working on some of my other stories and the new school year recently started, so that's taking up some of my time right now.**

**I hope you guys enjoy your Labor Day weekend. I'll see all of you very soon.)**


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